Accuracy
Every factual claim -- every date, quotation, attribution -- should check out against a primary or reputable secondary source. When a source is uncertain, I say so. When I don't know, I say so.
Sourcing
For Paine's words, we work from the four-volume Conway Edition (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1894-96), edited by Moncure Daniel Conway, with Philip S. Foner's Complete Writings (Citadel, 1945) as a cross-edition check. For biography, we rely on Conway's own Life of Thomas Paine (1892), Alfred Owen Aldridge's Man of Reason (1959), David Hawke's Paine (1974), John Keane's Tom Paine: A Political Life (1995/2003), Harvey Kaye's Thomas Paine and the Promise of America (2005), and Craig Nelson's Thomas Paine: Enlightenment, Revolution, and the Birth of Modern Nations (2006). We cite the newspaper, letter, or memoir when we quote a contemporary account, and link to it when we can.
Fidelity to the text
We transcribe Paine substantially as Conway printed him. Modernised punctuation that aids screen reading is preserved; original spelling and capitalisation that carries argumentative weight (notably the SHOUTING in The American Crisis) is left intact. Anything we add goes in square brackets. We do not paraphrase or silently correct the record.
The transcription on this site is drawn from the Cornell University Library scans of the Conway Edition on the Internet Archive (writingsthomasp0{1,2,3,4}painuoft) with the cleaner Project Gutenberg releases (#147, #3741, #3742, #3743, #31271) as overrides for the major works. Accuracy is verified work by work against the printed source. Corrections appear in each work's revision history (see /errata/).
His words and mine
Anything written by Paine is labelled and preserved word for word. Anything written about him -- biographical pages, blog, introductions, FAQ -- is mine, and signed. I don't blur the two.
Conflicts of interest
Non-commercial project. No advertising, no sponsorship, no payment for coverage. Contributors disclose material conflicts.
Corrections
If you find an error -- wrong date, misattribution, typo, broken link -- tell me. I'll fix it, commit the change, and it will appear in the public Git history at github.com/jonajinga/filthy-little-atheist. For corrections to a transcribed work, the per-work revision page at /works/<slug>/history/ shows every recorded change with date and commit hash.
Opposing views
Paine was a polemicist, and many of his essays argue fiercely against religious doctrine. I present them as he wrote them. My own commentary treats his contemporaries and opponents fairly, including his critics. Ridicule in his prose stays; ridicule in mine doesn't.
Public-domain stewardship
Paine's writings belong to everyone. I claim no copyright over them. My commentary is released under Creative Commons Attribution, so anyone can quote, reuse, or adapt it with credit.
Who I am
An independent editor. Not affiliated with any religious, political, or advocacy organization. If that ever changes, I'll say so here.
Questions, corrections, or objections -- write to me.